Apparatus for hanging decorative lights from a rail or gutter

ABSTRACT

A device is provided for mounting decorative lights has a ribbon-shaped body having a front face, a rear face, and two ends. One end has a spiral curvature of sufficient size, shape and resilience to enable the spiral end to be opened and placed upon a rail or post having at least one substantially flat side. The spiral has at least one flat segment that is positioned on the spiral to press against the substantially flat side of the rail or post preventing the device from being dislodged by common winter winds. A hook at the second end defines one or more openings of sufficient size to receive a decorative light socket, a rope light or an electrical cord. Straight surfaces can be provided on each of the hook end and the spiral that are opposite one another so that a decorative light socket can be held between the straight surfaces.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention

[0002] The present invention relates to a device for hanging decorativelights from a rail, post or gutter.

[0003] 2. Description of the Prior Art

[0004] Many people decorate their homes with strings of decorativelights during holiday seasons, particularly during the Christmas season.Lights can be mounted on the exterior of a house or commercial buildingin many ways. A large number of hooks and hangers for cords, wires, andespecially Christmas lights have been proposed in the past. One type ofhook has an elongated body with a spiral curvature at one end and a hookat an opposite end. U.S. Pat. No. 5,141,192 discloses such a hook thatis particularly useful for hanging strings of decorative lights fromgutters. This hook, or light holder, has a ribbon-shaped body with ahook at one end of the device. The hook end is designed to retain a wireor cord portion of a string of Christmas lights, not a light socket, andis generally sized so as to accommodate at least one cord. The secondend of the device has a spiral curvature with a proximal point adjacentto the body, the spiral end forming a curve whereby the spiral continuesbeyond the proximal point. The spiral end is thus adapted to fit over aportion of a gutter lip and has sufficient size, shape and resilience toenable the spiral end to grip the gutter lip. The central body of thisgutter hook extends straight downward from the spiral while the adjacentwall of the gutter curves inward. Consequently, the light string beingheld by the hook at the lower end of the body is spaced some distanceaway from the exterior surface of the gutter.

[0005] Structures having an elongated body with a hook at one end and aspiral at the other end have been proposed for hanging a variety ofitems ranging from a hat, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 1,501,807 toPteschel, to a small floral arrangement, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No.4,418,496 to Koistinen. In Petschel's hat supporting hook the spiral endpresses against a flat surface while the hook end fits on the top edgeof a chair. The brim of the hat in held between the spiral and the flatsurface against which the spiral presses. The support structure forsmall floral arrangement disclosed by Koistinen holds the small floralarrangement on the end containing the hook while the spiral end isplaced over the end of a pew so that the spiral engages the verticalflat side of that end. The device is made of a resilient plastic ormetal and is sized so that the spiral uncoils as it is placed over theend panel. The spiral exerts a clamping force against the verticalsurface thereby holding the floral support structure on the pew.

[0006] We and others have placed hooks similar to those disclosed inU.S. Pat. No. 5,141,192 on a deck rail in the same manner as Koistinenplaced his floral support on the end of the pew. Then we attached astring of decorative lights to the hook end of the device. The hookshold the lights in place as long as the decorative light string was notsubjected to much wind. But, when it was windy the force of the winddislodged the spiral end of the hooks from the rail. Consequently, thereis a need for a hook for decorative lights that will hold the lightstring on a deck rail, post and similar structures without becomingdislodged by the winds that are common during the Christmas holidayseason. At the same time the hook has to be easily mounted and removedwithout damaging painted surfaces.

[0007] In recent years there has been a trend toward the development ofa single hook that can hold a string of decorative lights anywhere ahomeowner may desire to place them. Two popular places for mountingdecorative lights on the exterior of a house are on the gutter and on adeck or railing. Consequently, there is a need for a hook that willsecurely hold decorative lights on gutters or on commonly sized lumberused in deck rails and posts.

[0008] Another trend is the development of a decorative light holderthat will hold all types of decorative lights. For many years this meanthaving the capability to hold mini-lights, C-7 lights and the larger C-9lights that are typically used outdoors. In recent years rope lights andicicle lights have been popular. Rope lights are available in threediameters, the most popular being 13 mm and 9 mm. Consequently, there isa need for a decorative light holder that will support rope lights andicicle lights as well as mini, C-7 and C-9 lights.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0009] A device is provided for mounting decorative lights includingrope lights and icicle lights as well as mini, C-7 and C-9 lights on agutter, post or rail without using nails or screws and in a manner thatthe lights will not be dislodged by common winter winds. The device hasa ribbon-shaped body having a front face, a rear face, and two ends. Oneend has a spiral curvature of sufficient size, shape and resilience toenable the spiral end to be opened and placed upon a rail or post havingat least one substantially flat side. The spiral has at least one flatsegment that is positioned on the spiral to press against thesubstantially flat side of the rail or post. A hook at the second enddefines an opening of sufficient size to receive at least one of adecorative light socket, a rope light and an electric cord.

[0010] In a preferred embodiment the body is contoured to match theshape of the front of a gutter and may be sized to extend from the lipat the top of the gutter to under the bottom of the gutter, or mayextend to any point between the top and the bottom of the gutter. In amost preferred embodiment the hook at the opposite end of the body isconfigured to define a first opening that is sized to receive a at leasttwo sizes of rope light and a second opening that is sized to receive anelectrical cord. That second opening may receive a string or wire thatholds wind chimes or, a bird feeder. Flat surfaces and a rib could beprovided to improve gripping of light sockets. The bottom of thatopening acts as a spring enabling the hook to grip the socket of mini,C-7 and C-9 lights. The thickness of that bottom can vary with athickness being chosen that provides a desired spring action. The firstopening is positioned so that a rope light held by the hook will benested in a curved portion of the front wall of the gutter. Placing arope light in the curved portion of the gutter increases the lightreflected to the viewer in front of the house, allowing smaller, lessexpensive lights to be used. Preferably, the body is made of a clear ortranslucent, resilient plastic such as polycarbonate, polypropylene orpolyethylene.

[0011] These and other advantages and features of the present inventionwill be more fully understood with reference to the presently preferredembodiment thereof and to the appended drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0012]FIG. 1 is an perspective view of a first present preferredembodiment of our apparatus for hanging decorative lights on a rail orgutter.

[0013]FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a portion of a gutter on which arope lights is being hung by of the embodiment shown in FIG. 1.

[0014]FIG. 3 is a sectional view along the line III-III in FIG. 2.

[0015]FIG. 4 is an end view of the embodiment of FIG. 1 mounted on arail.

[0016]FIG. 5 is an perspective view of a second present preferredembodiment of our apparatus for hanging decorative lights on a rail orgutter.

[0017]FIG. 6 is a sectional view similar to FIG. 3 showing theembodiment of FIG. 5 hung on a gutter.

[0018]FIG. 7 is a perspective view of a third present preferredembodiment of our apparatus for hanging decorative lights on a rail orgutter.

[0019]FIG. 8 is a side view of the embodiment of FIG. 7 gripping adecorative light socket shown in dotted line.

[0020]FIG. 9 is a sectional view taken along the line IX-IX of FIG. 8.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0021] A first present preferred embodiment of our apparatus for hangingrope lights on a rail or gutter shown in FIGS. 1 through 4 has aribbon-shaped body 2 with front face 9 and a rear face 10. Thisapparatus, or light holder, 1 has a hook 3 at one end. The hook 3 isshaped to define a first opening 4 into which a rope light can besecurely held and a second opening 5 sized to receive an electricalcord. Spiral end 6 extends from the opposite end of the body member 2,and has a proximal point 8 at some point on the curve. Proximal point 8is adjacent body member 2, such that there is a space 7 between theinner curve of the spiral and outer curve of the spiral.

[0022] The light holder 1 can easily be placed on a gutter 40 as shownin FIGS. 2 and 3. The gutter shown in these figures has a front wall 42and a rear wall 44 extending upwardly from a bottom 43. This gutter hasa lip 46 extending toward a rear wall. As can be seen in FIG. 3, thespiral end 6 fits around the gutter lip 46 securely holding the lightholder 1 on the gutter 40. The front wall 42 of the gutter has a flatportion 45 between the lip 46 and inwardly curving portion 41. Thedistal end of the hook 3 has a curved portion 15 that curves away fromthe from face 9 of the spiral portion of the device. The curved portionis spaced apart from the front face by a distance that is smaller thanthe first opening 4. Because the body is made from a resilient materiala rope light can be easily inserted into the first opening 4 by pushingthe rope light against the curved portion 15. This causes the curvedportion to move away from the front face allowing the rope light to passinto opening 4. After that occurs the curved portion moves back towardface 9 and the hook securely grips the rope light. The lower opening 5is sized to receive an electrical cord 32 shown in FIG. 2. This cordcould be a power cord or the cord portion of a string of decorativelights, or icicle lights. This hook could also be used to suspend a birdfeeder, wind chimes, sun catcher or other object hung on a string, cordor wire. The string, cord or wire would be held in the second opening.

[0023] In the first preferred embodiment the first opening 4 ispositioned so that when the light holder 1 is placed on a gutter 40 asshown in FIGS. 2 and 3 a rope light 30 held in the opening will beadjacent the curved portion 41 of the gutter 40. When so positioned therope light creates an illuminated gutter when the rope light is on.Direct sunlight will strike the rope light held in this positionadjacent a curved portion of the gutter only when the sun is at or belowthe 11:00 position, indicated by dotted line 36 in FIG. 3, and there areno adjacent structures that would block the light. In most urbanlocations this would correspond to a time period of only a few hours.Accordingly, a rope light positioned as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 isshielded by the gutter from direct sunlight for at least two-thirds ofthe daylight hours. Moreover, in this protected position the rope lightwill be kept from being blown out of the hook by high winds.

[0024] The light holder 1 can also be securely attached to a rail orpost. As can be seen most clearly in FIGS. 1 and 4 there are three flatportions 11, 12 and 13 on the front face and at the end of the spiral 6.When the spiral end 6 is opened and the light holder is placed over arail 30 or post as shown in FIG. 4 one of the flat portions 13 restsagainst the substantially flat surface 31 of the rail 30. This flatportion provides sufficient frictional contact between the spiral andthe post that the light holder 1 will securely hold a string ofdecorative lights on the rail when the lights are subjected to windscommon during the winter season.

[0025] The light holder 1 can be made of any resilient plastic or metalthat enables the spiral end to open and fit over a deck rail or otherpost. Typically, the rail or post will have a thickness of from one halfto one and one half inch. We prefer to make the device of a clearplastic so that the light holder is less noticeable. Polycarbonate,polyethylene and polypropylene are suitable plastics.

[0026] The light holder can be any desired length and can have multiplehooks. A second present preferred embodiment 20, shown in FIGS. 5 and 6,is sized to extend under the bottom of the gutter and support three ropelights 51, 52 and 53. This embodiment also has an elongatedribbon-shaped body 22 with a spiral 26 at one end and a hook 23 at anopposite end. The face of the spiral 26 has two flat segments 21 at thedistal end. The hook 23 is shaped to define a first space 24 into whichone rope light can be securely held when the light holder 10 is hung ona gutter. There is a second space 27 defined by curved portion 25, and athird space 28 defined by curved portion 29. Spaces 27 and 28 are alsosized to receive a rope light 52 or rope light 51 as shown in FIGS. 4and 7. Since the most common rope lights are 9 mm and 13 mm in diameter,the curvature of the hook is sized to receive rope lights of thesediameters. Rope light 52 is held by curved portion 25 and the curvedsection 42 of the gutter 40 at the location where the front of thegutter meets the bottom of the gutter 44. Rope light 51 is held bycurved portion 29 in space 28 at a location of the upper curved portion41 of a gutter 40. The third rope light 53 is held by hook 23 under thebottom 44 of the gutter 40. In that position rope light 51 is protectedfrom winds and is not exposed to direct sunlight. The rope lights 51, 52and 53 could be the same color or different colors. A patriotic displaycould be created with red, white and blue lights.

[0027] A third embodiment 60 shown in FIGS. 7, 8 and 9 is similar to thefirst embodiment. There is a ribbon shaped body 62 with a hook 63 at oneend and a spiral end 66. There are two openings 64 and 65 in the hookportion. The spiral end has flat portions 71, 72 and 73. This embodimentdiffers from the first embodiment in that straight surfaces 74 and 75are provided adjacent the space 68 between the spiral end 66 and the end69 of the hook. The socket 81 of a decorative light 80 can be held moresecurely as shown in FIG. 7 than in the first embodiment. This is sobecause there is greater surface contact between the hook and the socketin the embodiment of FIGS. 7, 8 and 9. It should be apparent from FIGS.7 and 8 that the bottom 67 of the hook 63 functions as a hinge when thelight socket 81 is placed between surfaces 74 and 75. The spring actionof this hinge can be changed by changing the thickness of bottom 67. Onepresent preferred width of the hook is one-fourth inch. That width couldbe increased to increase the contact area. If the hook is a moldedplastic part some shrinkage will occur as the part cools. This shrinkagemay create some curvature or concavity across the width of the straightsurfaces 74 and 75, particularly for hooks wider than one-fourth inch.Such concavity should also improve the gripping of the socket by thehook. For that reason surfaces 74 and 75 could be molded to be concaveacross their width. Since many decorative light sockets have a series oflongitudinal ribs on their outer surface gripping can be furtherincreased by providing one or more ribs 78 on straight surfaces 74 and75 as shown in dotted line in FIG. 9.

[0028] In the preferred embodiments the surfaces which engage the postor rail are described as flat surfaces. It should be understood thatthese surfaces could have some curvature along their length and acrosstheir width without departing from the present invention. That curvaturecould result from shrinkage in a plastic molded part or be intentional.Nevertheless, any curvature in the longitudinal direction should beminor. Furthermore, the flat surfaces could have ribs or other smallsurface projections.

[0029] While we have described a certain preferred embodiment of theinvention, it is to be distinctly understood that the invention is notlimited thereto but may be otherwise embodied and practiced within thescope of the following claims.

We claim:
 1. A holder for hanging decorative lights on a rail or posthaving at least one substantially flat side, the holder comprising: aribbon-shaped body having a front face, a rear face, and two ends; oneend having a spiral curvature with a proximal point adjacent to thebody, wherein the spiral curvature adjacent the proximal point is formedby a plurality of flat segments on the front face, the spiral end beingof sufficient size, shape and resilience to enable the spiral end to beopened and placed upon a rail or post having at least one substantiallyflat side, such that one of the flat segments of the spiral end pressesagainst the at least one substantially flat side of the rail or post;and a hook at the second end, the hook defining at least one space ofsufficient size to receive at least one of a decorative light socket, arope light and an electric cord.
 2. The holder of claim 1 wherein theend having a spiral curvature is sized to fit over a portion of a gutterof the type having a front wall, a rear wall and a lip extending fromthe front wall toward the rear wall in a manner such that the lip ispassed between the proximal point and the body when said proximal pointof said spiral curvature is positioned inside said gutter and the endhaving a spiral curvature has sufficient size, shape and resilience toenable that end to grip the gutter lip.
 3. The hook of claim 2 whereinthe gutter is of the type in which the front wall has a flat portionextending from the lip toward the bottom and an inwardly curving sectionadjacent the flat portion and opposite the lip, wherein the hook at thesecond end defines a space of sufficient size to receive a rope lightand wherein the elongated body and the hook are sized and configured sothat when the spiral portion is over the lip the hook will be adjacentthe inwardly curving section of the front wall of the gutter.
 4. Theholder of claim 1 wherein the hook at the second end defines a firstspace of sufficient size to receive a rope light and a second space ofsufficient size to receive an electrical cord.
 5. The holder of claim 1wherein the holder is plastic selected from the group consisting ofpolycarbonate, polyethylene and polypropylene.
 6. The holder of claim 5wherein the plastic is a clear plastic.
 7. The holder of claim 1 whereinthe hook at the second end has a distal portion that is adjacent to andspaced apart from at least one point on the front face of the end havinga spiral curvature.
 8. The holder of claim 7 wherein the hook at thesecond end is resilient and the distal portion is spaced apart from thefront face of the end having a spiral curvature by a distance smallerthan a diameter of the space defined by the hook to be of sufficientsize to receive at least one of a decorative light socket, a rope lightand an electric cord.
 9. The holder of claim 7 also comprising a curvedportion on a distal end of the hook that curves away from the front faceof the end having a spiral curvature.
 10. The holder of claim 7 whereinthe front face of the end having a spiral curvature has a straightsurface that includes the at least one point on the front face of theend having a spiral curvature, and the hook has a straight surfaceopposite the straight surface on the spiral end.
 11. The holder of claim10 also comprising at least one rib on the straight surface on the endhaving a spiral curvature.
 12. The holder of claim 10 also comprising atleast one rib on the straight surface of the hook.
 13. The holder ofclaim 10 wherein the straight surfaces have a curvature across theirwidth.
 14. The holder of claim 1 wherein the ribbon-shaped body and thehook are sized and configured so that when the holder is placed on agutter having a front wall extending upwardly from a bottom the ribbonshaped body extends along the front wall to a point under the bottom.15. The holder of claim 1 wherein the ribbon-shaped body and the hookare sized and configured so that when the holder is placed on a gutterhaving a front wall extending upwardly from a bottom at least one of thehook and the body together with a portion of the front wall define aspace sized to receive a rope light.
 16. A holder for hanging decorativelights on a rail or post having at least one substantially flat side,the holder comprising: a ribbon-shaped body having a front face, a rearface, and two ends; one end having a spiral curvature with a proximalpoint adjacent to the body and a straight surface; and a hook at thesecond end, the hook defining at least one space of sufficient size toreceive at least one of a decorative light socket, a rope light and anelectric cord, the hook having a distal end having a straight surface,wherein the straight surface of the hook and the straight surface of theend having a spiral curvature are opposite one another such that the twostraight surfaces define an opening between the hook and the end havinga spiral curvature.
 17. The holder of claim 16 also comprising at leastone rib on the straight surface on the end having a spiral curvature.18. The holder of claim 16 also comprising at least one rib on thestraight surface of the hook end.
 19. The holder of claim 16 wherein thestraight surfaces have a curvature across their width.